Searching for a Home
by Buddykins
Summary: Ash gets a little uncomfortable in her quiet and lonely apartment. Maybe there are too many memories still holding her back. Regardless she sets out for a new place, while she's looking for her next apt the heater Family agrees to let her stay with them for a while. Which house will she love the most and which one will be unbearable? Subtly MeenAsh
1. Chapter 1

**Story Notes:**

WOOT WOOT! Another great headcanon prompt from insomination put into fanfiction for the rest of the fandom. This idea just got me going so we will be seeing several chapters!

Hope everyone enjoys reading along!~

* * *

 **Home Away From Home:**

Ash was busy at work waxing and polishing up her black electric guitar. She never really paid attention to the scuffs and scratches and even when she didn't notice she didn't mind them too much. It was just that there was nothing else she had to do. She practiced her cords at the theater with the rest of the theater group, she was always jotting down notes for possible new songs, and even when she was alone in her apartment she practiced on her guitar for hours at a time.

Thanks to the big concert she had gotten a lot of publicity and even had gigs lined up at local bars and hangouts a few times a week. With Lance out of her life and everything going perfect she couldn't have been happier.

Or so she thought. With a heavy sigh the rockstar cleaned up the wax and rags she was using and put her axe back on it's stand. As she sat on the couch looking at her phone she saw the other slightly sunken in spot on the other side of the furniture. "Ugh!" she groaned as she threw a pillow at it and got off the couch. Even if Lance was out of her life he wasn't out of her memory; and this apartment certainly wasn't helping her forget.

* * *

Dress rehearsal was finishing up for the theater group and Buster was going over his notes for everyone's performances and what they did great as well as what they can to improve. "Ash. Ash. Ash!" a shout pulled her from dozing off.

"I lost my microphone!" the tired singer blurted out as her head slipped off its resting point on her hand causing her to jerk awake. She was met with some confused looks from rest of the group except for Mike.

"You stay up past your bedtime princess?" he mocked after a chuckle before leaving since he had gotten his feedback already and said he was late for dinner with his girlfriend.

Buster wasn't mad or even upset in the least, in fact after working with Mrs. Crawley for so long he had a lot of patience with simple thing. "You alright there Ash?" the director asked with a little concern for his rock star performer.

The teen gave her head a shake to wake herself up before responding "Yeah sorry about the Moon, I Just haven't been able to sleep good lately." She finished with a yawn further emphasising her point.

"No worries Ash it's quite alright, try a glass of warm milk next time, always helps me." He said while standing up, even though it doesn't make him that much taller by any means. "Well that's all I got for you guy today, keep up the great work everyone. If you need me I'll be in my office." The director said as he dismissed the group to go take care of director things.

Just as Meena was about to get up however she felt a weight on her leg and looked down to see her sleepy friend snoring lightly using her leg as a pillow. The large mammal looked on for a while before slowly reaching her paw over her friends quills running it down the spines; she didn't know if it was okay to do that but since she was being the pillow she was sure Ash wouldn't mind too much. And besides, the ends of the barbs tickled the thick skin on her paw, up until Gunter called out to her.

"Ash look at you." The male pig's German accent coming through thick at the moment. "Rock star all out of rock." He said commenting on how tired she was.

When his voice suddenly woke her up she jerked her head up again and felt her quills hit something. "What?- Meena I'm sorry are you okay?" She asked as she turned to check on her friend who was pulling a couple barbs from her paw.

"Yeah! I'm okay Ash, see?" the elephant said showing that she was okay after taking out the quills with a slight winch each time. But what she hoped that her friend didn't pick up on was the fact she only got pricked for being too close. But now as a consequence she could feel her face flushing as Ash looked over her paw, she didn't even realize bringing her ears around her cheeks to cover them.

"Why haven't you been able to sleep sweetie?" Rosita asked as she pulled her purse over her shoulder stepping over beside her dance partner and the other two girls. As a mother of twenty five she knew a thing or two about not being able to sleep.

There was no point in hiding it from them since they were like a family to each other, as well as the fact they all knew about what happened with Lance. "I just can't sleep right anymore. My apartment is always empty now and I just can't focus." She sighed, defeat clearly coating her voice. "I've been looking finding a new place because my rent is up this week."

When the Indian elephant heard how sad her friend was her ears perked up and she smiled at the idea of offering that she could stay at her house for a few nights. But then she thought about all the reasons Ash would say no to that idea. " _She's a rockstar, and she's so cool. She probably wouldn't even like the thought of having a sleepover._ " Meena doubted herself in her head causing her ears to close back down and her smile to slip away.

But the others weren't as shy as her and almost all had the same idea. "Well why don't you come stay with me?" Rosita managed to ask first when she cut off Eddie and Gunter who were both excited to hang out with the little rocker.

"Yeah that's a great idea." Johnny jumped in agreeing fully with Rosita, "You could stay with each of us while you look for a new place." The mountain gorilla added onto the idea with a smile.

"Really?" the tired mammal asked unsure if it was really okay. " I don't want to get in your way or anything." She said unsure whether that would be okay with Rosita's family.

"Or you can come stay with me?! It will be like totally spicy no?" Gunter was clearly very excited for this as he was already starting to give a little dance.

Maybe Gunter was going to be an obvious bad choice to room with, Ash thought to herself as she went up to go talk to Mr. Moon. "Hey Moon, you got a minute?" the rocker asked as she knocked on the door to his office before stepping in.

"Sure thing Ash, what can I do for you?" he asked as he put down some rough drafts for the next show's advertisements.

"I was wondering if I could keep my equipment here while I look for a new place?" she brought up the little explanation of why she was moving and how the current plans were to stay with Rosita and her family while she looks for a new place.

Hearing about the vocal artist in a bit of a bind he thought of something, "Well you can stay with me for a while too if you need. You would be able to get into the theater anytime." He invited the younger mammal.

"Wait really? Where do you live?" Ash thought that being able to get into the theater and practice on stage when ever she wanted would be really cool-

"Right here in my office." He cut her thoughts off midway. As he pulled out the draw with his 'bedroom' in it. "See, I never have to leave. You can have one of the practice rooms if you'd like." The koala smiled kindly as he closed his bedroom draw.

Ash went from thinking that Buster was that much cooler than he was to that much lamer than before. "You sound like you need a new apartment more than me Moon. But I think I'll pass." Cringed the songwriter as she headed out of the office closing the door shut behind herself.

* * *

It was the next day after rehearsal and Johnny was driving behind Rosita who had Ash and Meena riding with her as they headed to the teen's apartment. Johnny rolled his eyes with a smile when the mother driving slowed down at the yellow light rather than speed up; being the middle of Tuesday there was absolutely no cars around but them. But sitting there behind them he could faintly hear the sound of their three voices all singing the song on the radio before they both went at the green light.

However the next time that he saw Rosita slowing down at the yellow he pulled up in the lane next to her. "Hey Rosita!" he called over the radio in the van. When she turned the radio down they rolled down their windows and each turned to listen to him. "You wanna have some fun?" he had a playful and challenging smirk on his face when he revved the engine to the garage's truck he was driving. He might not have driven for the gang's big heist but he sure has driven before.

"Johnny! That's-"

Rosita was cut off by Ash yelling from behind her. "You're on greaser!" she shouted getting a laugh from Meena and a glare from "Race you to my place!" she shouted so their friend would hear her clearly.

"No we will not missy." The driver scolded her lightly. Although the thought of having fun like she never did in highschool might have been an exciting thought.

"If you win I'll babysit for you Rosita." Johnny goated her knowing full well she would jump at the chance.

Rosita agreed in a heartbeat at that bargain. "Rev you engine Rosita." Meena said from the back seat with a nervous smile. This was also something she had never done, even if her grandpa sped everywhere he went.

"Yeah!" Ash beamed back at her elephant friend not noticing the blush that started to blush when she looked away.

"Like this?" Rosita asked clearly unsure if she was going to do it the right way, she had never revved the engine before like this; and it showed. Instead of simply revving the engine she took off speeding through the red light they were already stopped at. Johnny was just baffled but he gunned it after her anyways racing up to the side of the van.

* * *

"So Johnny when are you free?" Rosita asked with a smirk as she blew her ear out off of her face and straightening her shirt. Beside her both Ash and Meena got out looking like they had just gotten off a roller coaster as the smaller girl leaned against the larger one, both of them smiling and giggling with one another.

The gorillas shoulders were slouched and he was shaking his head. "Weren't you the one who wanted to race?" the porcupine joked as she caught her breath.

"Man Rosita you sure must need a babysitter." The young racer sighed as he took his medicine light heatedly. With that the four of them went to Ash's apartment to help pack her things and load them into either the bed of the black truck or into white mini van.

During the whole process Johnny and Meena did most the heavy lifting while the other two packed the stuff in boxes that they had gotten from their houses or borrowed from Buster. All the while Meena was amazed with everything the rocker had in her apartment, and while she didn't take Ash as a messy person being a rockstar came with a certain reputation; and perfectly clean was not part of that.

Now with all the big things packed everyone was helping pack. "Ash where do you want this box of shoes?" Johnny asked as he pulled the box out from under the couch table. He was just about to call for her again when he saw light spilling out from the box. "Ash still has light up shoes-?" the large male asked out loud as he opened the lid. He stopped when he saw that is wasn't shoes inside the box.

"Did you say something Johnny?" the porcupines voice scared him as she walked down the hall.

"Nothin'! Nope! Didn't say anything!" he stammered embarrassed as he shoved the box back where he found it. "What else do you need packed?" the only male in their group asked trying not to make it obvious what he found.

* * *

With all the large stereo speakers stored in the Ashes practice room along with the boxes of things she wouldn't be needing while staying with Rosita, Johnny headed home after offering to take Meena back until the other driver insisted it was perfectly fine.

"That sure was a lot of work wasn't it girls?" The mom asked as they also headed out after loading back into her white van.

"Yeah it was, thanks a bunch guys." Ash smiled a sleepy smile. It was definitely a long day for her but it would have been an even longer week without her family's time and help; but now with all the moving done for the most part her much needed hours of sleep were weighing heavy on her eyes as she gave a tired yawn.

Meena would never say anything to her friend about it, but she couldn't help but think how cute the rock star looked as her eyes fluttered shut. The shy singer turned away and was looking out the window enjoying the sight of other animals going throughout their own day, that was until she felt a familiar weight on her side. Looking down caused nothing but a blush burning lightly in the elephants cheeks and a smile to her lips when she saw the rocker once again snoring lightly against her.

Once more she couldn't resist running her paw down the quills being extra careful not to get poked by one this time. It was a strange feeling, but it was also a feeling that gave her goose bumps. The tips of the quills scratched lightly across her tougher skin, it was somewhere between a tickle and tingly all at the same time. "She looks so cute when she's asleep." Rosita's voice pulled her from her thoughts causing her to pull her hand away quickly.

"ye-yeah! She's just so different." Meena stammered and prayed that the mother did not see what she was doing to the rockstar singer; that would have been horribly embarrassing for her. The thought alone was making her cheeks burn red as she hid her face behind her ears.

Rosita, however, did see the blush and she also knew that little and gentle smile that was on Meena's face moments ago; but as a mother she knew it was best not to push the subject…for now.

* * *

When Ash woke up she could hear the faint sound of screaming. Her head shot up only to find herself being lightly shaken by Rosita who was scarred by the sudden jolt of movement from the young girl. "Were you having a bad dream sweetie?" she asked as she finished catching her breath.

"I heard screaming and was worried something happened." The now wide awake singer admitted before noticing something important. "Wait where's Meena?" Her eyes looking around seeing no sign of her friend.

"That screaming is just the kids. They must be having fun play." The mother of said kids said like it was nothing that wouldn't happen each and every night. "And I dropped Meena off on the way over, and she wanted me to make sure you get a good night's rest tonight." Rosita wagged a finger at the rocker who had a tendency to be tired as of late, though there was still a smile on her face as she did so.

Grabbing her two luggage cases along with her guitar. When she followed Rosita in she would have been trampled alive if it wasn't for her quills flicking up at the scare from their collective scream then that would have been bad news for everyone in the room, "Twelve kids? That must be crazy." Ash stared in awe at the mob of little piggies as she tried to count them all, but the running and jumping kids made it impossible to keep track of.

"Twelve?" Rosita gave a small giggle at the idea of having so few kids. "No sweetie, we have twenty five." The smile on the mother's face was happy and it made no sense to Ash because she couldn't imagine having any more than five; ever. As the older singer went through naming off the names of all the little ones Ash was only able to keep track of the first three and then Casper, but that was only because he was still darting around the rest of them.

The prickly teen couldn't find the words to describe what she was thinking. "Rosita are you sure it's okay if I stay here?" her voice unsure not only because she didn't want to get in the way of the loving mother, but also she didn't know if she would be able to handle all the kids.

"Of course it's okay Ash, it's what families are for." Rosita smiled genuinely as she put a hooved paw of the others shoulder. "Now come on, let's get dinner going. Kids be washed up in time for dinner." she said as she pointed her finger and sent the mob to rally out of the room.

Not wanting to have her stuff she brought scattered across the house Ash put her stuff in the back corner by the potted plants hoping that it would stay from the kids. She did her best to help Rosita in the kitchen with cooking and getting the table ready, not know much about making a home cooked meal she set the table instead.

As she put down plates and forks along with a glass she got into a rhythm doing so, and that's when she found out it wasn't her rhythm she was working to. But actually it was Rosita's singing that was keeping the rhythm as she chopped the vegetables which Ash followed without knowing. About half an hour later the proud chief had just finished serving up the last of the twenty five plates when she rung the dinner triangle, "Supper time!" she called up the stairs causing an avalanche of little ears flopping around as the piglets ran down to the table.

The young singer couldn't believe all the noise that was coming from them just eating. There was still so much yelling and talking that Ash wasn't sure if any eating going on between the kids. "Here you go sweetie." She heard the mom's voice speaking to her as she offered a plate of food to the younger singer, and together the two of them went to the living room to enjoy light conversation over dinner where it was ever so slightly quieter.

* * *

"I don't know how you can do it Rosita. I mean taking care of twenty five kids? And a husband?" she asked astonished as she watched the mama pig checking all the piglet's teeth before letting them up to bed. She knew that even if she tried taking on such a large task that she would not even come doing half as close to a great job as Rosita was doing each and every day.

The older animal could only smile and shrug. "Some days are harder, some days are messier. But I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world." For a while they were quiet, Ash merely watching as Rosita give the all clear to most the piggies or turning back a few to finish brushing.

As the last of them finished and went up the stairs one little girl stayed back and poked her head through the bars and gave her mom a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight mommy." She said sweetly and innocently before scurrying along.

"That's what makes it all worth it." Rosita smiled as she watched her daughter head off to bed. The cuteness was too much for the rocker and while she wasn't usually moved by much seeing how Rosita worked so hard for her family and loved them so much made her eyes watery when the little girl returned all that love. "Now you too missy. You need to brush your teeth." The happy mom said getting a laugh out of Ash.

"Yes mom." The rocker smiled warmly at her as she went to go get her stuff to get ready for bed. If Rosita could do this every day and still come out smiling and loving to both her families then Ash was at least going to try her best with everything too.

* * *

Like Ash promised to herself she was trying, and she was trying . In the mornings the kids were loud as they played, ate, and got ready for school. So morning time she couldn't really practice anything besides her finger movements because he couldn't really hear the lyrics or chords she was playing. Then she was able to practice for an hour before Rosita was ready to take the two of them to rehearsal, the drive she didn't mind too much.

But she could only enjoy listening to the singing mom because she never listened to any of that music, and the same could be said for her ride home to her temporary place. However on the first heading back they stopped at a few places collecting ads for apartment places. When they got home however the house was a messy of toys and screams from all the piglets. Dinner time was just as nice as the first night there, but also just as chaotic.

Once the piggies were all asleep thanks to a bedtime story Rosita was leaning up the rest of the house and Ash went to the living room to finally get some good practice in on her new song and try to match her cords up with her lyrics this time. But unfortunately for her not long after starting Norman came home and 'greeted' his wife before joining the rocker in the living room. "Don't mind me, you just keep play." He said tiredly as he sat on the recliner and turned on the tv.

It wasn't that Ash was worried about disrupting him, but now with the mix of various noises coming from both the tv and from the fast asleep husband ash couldn't hear the chords right anymore. "Ugh." She growled as her shoulders slumped down and she glared at Norman snoring over on the couch. "If he's that tired he should go to bed." She grumbled under her breath as she packed her axe into her case knowing she wouldn't be able to get anymore practice done for the night.

"Do you need any help Rosita?" the defeated rocker sighed as she walked into the room she was cleaning in as she was singing to herself.

"Oh no I'm okay sweetie, thank you though." The kind mother smiled lovingly as she piled the toys back into their box in the corner. "You can keep practicing, I know how hard writing your own song must be." Rosita added not wanting to have Ash going out of her way with something that she didn't need to do.

And the mama pig was right, it was hard to write her own song; especially when there was no time to listen to herself think or play. Maybe this wasn't the right place for a rocker girl like her to stay for too long, just because she liked loud music didn't mean she could stay sane in such a loud house; filled with near countless children.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Alright what did you all think? Let me know in the reviews or PM me your thoughts. Good or bad I always enjoy hearing your feedback. If you have any suggestions let me know and I'll put it to the list, message me here or on tumblr under buddykinsblog or mrbuddykins. Also go check out insomination on tumblr for more awesome posts.

Well that's all for now I look forward to seeing you all again!~


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Notes:**

Well here we are again with a second chapter! I hope to fill this one with more cute and adorable moments!

* * *

 **Finding her Home:**

Ash had just finished giving her song pitch to Eddie and Buster hoping they would like it. Buster because he had to make sure everything fit for the next show and just to get the director's advice and opinion. Eddie because he was always with Buster but also because he was the one in the theater responsible for all the special effects and she wanted him to be able to understand what her song was.

"Well it isn't horrible Ash, it's a really good start." Buster said trying to be a bit more optimistic for her. "But are you sure you want to stick with it?" He cringed slightly at hinting it wasn't something he would stick with.

"Oh I got an idea! Pick me!" Eddie shouted jumping up in his seat to get the other two's attention.

But it worked. "Yes Eddie?" Ash questioned unsure of where this was going to end up, but knowing Eddie it probably was going to be something interesting to say the least.

"What if you made your song backwards?" the sheep asked excitement clearly carrying his voice.

"What?"

"Eddie I don't think Ash sings backwards." Buster groaned from beside his friend.

"No no. Not sing it backwards, like think of it backwards." He tried to explain but it was clear that wasn't helping anything. "So like instead of writing your lyrics then playing the music and adding the effects last, what if you played music to match the effects and then came up with your song?!" he was clearly all for this idea and thought it was the greatest idea he had ever come up with.

Both the singer and director were quiet and thinking over with their friend had to say. "Well, I like it. It's like new modern stuff artists like right?" the koala asked getting an eager nod from Eddie, "Well what about you Ash, what do you say?" he turned the focus onto the rocker.

"Well I can give it a shot." She shrugged not knowing any other option that could work better than trying this new style out.

"Yes!" The idealist sheep exclaimed as he fist pumped the air above him. "You can even come stay out at my place if you want, I have all the stuff to practice your jam there." He offered.

Now that wasn't a bad idea to the rocker; if anything even just getting out of the house filled with screaming kids was going to be a good start for the teen. "Alright, I'll get my stuff and be over there tonight." She said hoping this would be a good change of pace.

She went backstage to ask Johnny if he would be able to take her, and while she felt bad about asking him for a ride she figured it would be better than lugging her stuff across the city on the lightrail. But Gunter had other thoughts in mind when he jumped out and scared her. "Surprise!" he shouted in his German accent as he flipped into a pose in front of her.

With a small scream he quills flared up to protect herself in her fright. "What was that for?!" she then shouted back at him while trying her best to calm her heart down so her quills weren't standing on end.

"I wanted to surprise you with this." He said dangling a key chain with a single key on it…as well as a miniature replica of the dancer in his red tights. The look on the rocker's face was extremely confused and borderline disgust; much like when Moon tried to get her in a pink dress. "It's my apartment key." He smiled widely while showing her the little figure on the chain.

"Yeah I guessed that's what it was. But I'm okay. Thanks." Ash tried to say as nicely as she could. It wasn't that she didn't like Gunter, he was funny and always brought the party and flare, but party and flare just wasn't her thing. Making her way passed the pot belly pig she found Johnny upstairs. "Hey Johnny you got a sec?" she asked while he finished danced his fingers across the keys.

The pianist stopped the song hearing his friend at the door, "yeah, what's up?"

"Mind helping me take my stuff over to Eddie's today?" again, she didn't like the idea of using him as a ride all the time but she didn't want to make Rosita drive her; and she wasn't even sure if Eddie knew how to drive.

"Oh sure thing." The British accented singing said with a smile. It really wasn't a problem for him, and besides driving around was up there on his list of things he enjoyed doing; and doing it with a friend only made it more enjoyable.

* * *

After the theater was done practicing Johnny drove his fellow singer down to Rosita's house so she can grab her things. On the way she told Johnny all the _wonderful_ tails of the screaming kids. She could only grin at the unpleasant look on his face knowing that he was going to have to watch the kids alone some time in the near future.

They stopped in really quick to say thanks to Rosita as she grabbed her luggage, and for Johnny it was more of a peak into what he was going to face soon. Without asking for help the larger animal took the cases from Ash and out to the truck. "Don't worry it's not heavy." He said when she made to protest. "Is this everything?"

"Yeah that's all I brought. Sorry my clothes aren't as heavy as your's are greaser." She said sarcastically before saying another big thanks to Rosita for everything and a final goodbye to all the piglets. "Well you looking forward to babysitting? I mean you did lose." The prickly teen said poking at her gorilla friend; both literally and metaphorically.

"Oh yeah, definitely." He rolled his eyes at her in response. It wasn't like he didn't want to help out their family mom, it's just he had never really been good with kids. The drove through the city listening to either his music player when they came to a red light.

As they were stopped there a red sports car pulled up on Johnny's side, the bright color and sleek design caught his attention right away as he admired the fast vehicle; and then they revved their engine. "Uh-oh, you gonna lose again Johnny?" Ash taunted from beside him.

But both of them were left with their mouths hanging open when they saw the black tinted window rolling down, and much to their shocking surprise was a three toed sloth. "You…wanna…race…?" they heard him say slowly like in the way that all the sloths talked.

The pointy singer started laughing at the challenge that she jumped at it. "You're on!" she yelled over Johnny's protest. "What, he's a sloth. There's no way you can lose to him." she tried to reason him and it was enough to win him over.

"Alright fine." He rolled his eyes, but he did love the idea of a good race. He revved his engine in response accepting the sloth's challenge who smiled and rolled up his window. When the light flashed green Johnny didn't even put his foot to the floor by the time the red car was just a small blur in the distant street before they saw sirens chasing after it.

The passenger couldn't stop herself from laughing at her driver's shocked expression as he decided to turn down another way to avoid the police. It wasn't a long drive after that down to Eddie's place, but it was quite after the cop sirens.

* * *

"Thank's for the lift Johnny." Ash said as he got her things out of the bed and onto the curb next to her and Eddie who came out to meet them at the gate to his family's estate. With a wave he left the two of them there to get Ash situated.

Eddie was nice enough to offer up his place for her, but unlike Johnny he wasn't nice enough to help her carry; and instead left her trying to take both her bags and guitar case all the way from the gate to the house and up the stairs to a guest room. "Yeah you can stay in here, it's a gust room so I don't think my folks will mind." He said nonchalantly as he was tapping away at his phone.

"You mean you didn't tell them?" she glared at him for surprising her with this bit of information once she already brought her stuff up.

"Well I mean like, I can text them I guess." He shrugged. "They're not really around so I don't think they would notice. But I'll tell the butler. Eddie explained as he scratched the back of his head. In honesty he didn't even know when they had left let alone when they would even be back. However he remembered that his life coach mentioned something about them going somewhere, well he thought he remembered.

* * *

After Ash set her stuff up in her borrowed room she met Eddie down at his pool house where he stays apparently. For her it was safe to say that this new way of coming up with a song was definitely interesting. Ash tried playing cords to match the dance of lights that Eddie was making with his grid set he had going on that controlled the special LED lights overhead that he put in after the first show they put on.

But just when she would get a good rhythm with the lights they would completely change pace and color, and at one point they were all just flashing randomly. The rocker was definitely getting some new ideas, but the biggest idea was to pull the plug on the sheep's keyboard for giving her such a headache. And once she had enough she ended out doing just that.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" he shouted at the top of his lungs when everything went completely black. He flipped the regular lights on so they could see each other and that's when Ash finally saw his bulky soundproof headset he had on. He took them off and she could hear the techno pop music blaring in them. "Wasn't that great?" he asked with a smile proud as can be at his light show.

"Oh yeah, it was something." The song writer couldn't help but groan those words. "Hey I'm going to bed so I'll see you tomorrow at practice." She said as she left saw her shadow dance with color at Eddie plugging his panel back in and going to town with the buttons.

* * *

She kept her regular routine for two days of going to rehearsal and hanging out for a bit before coming back to Eddie's place for the night. And for those two days she never saw Eddie again, she looked for him at the pool house once or twice but no sign of him, just chips and drinks all over the floor sitting in front of some racing game running its intro on a loop. ' _And I thought Lance was a slob._ ' The rocker was reminded of her ex when she saw the mess.

When she would practice her playing she could actually hear the cords, but she couldn't hear the music and feeling behind them; all she heard was the echo bouncing around the empty house. The mentioned butler was never seen either, she never heard anything other than her own voice calling out to see if she really was alone in the world as she felt.

It was the third day when she couldn't take it anymore, she went to look for Eddie at his house to tell him she was leaving but again, no sheep was there to care. So not knowing what else to really do she left a note on the sofa saying she was headed out and she went back to pack her stuff up. "Hey Johnny are you busy?" she asked when he picked up the phone, it was just an hour or so after they all left the theater but she wasn't sure if he already had plans.

"No why are you alrigh'?" the accent came out even thicker over the phone that it did in person. Hearing one of her friends worried about her was slightly touching considering how isolated she felt the past several days 'rooming' with Eddie.

"Yeah just was wondering if you wouldn't mind if I hang out at your place for a while?" Ash felt awkward in asking him the favor, not for what it was but because she usually never asked for things like this; in fact the more she thought about it the more that it seemed like she never really asked favors from anyone.

"Oh, sure thing. I'll swing by for you at eight when the garage closes?" Johnny asked more so than told. A few more hours alone wouldn't kill her and she didn't want to make him close early so of course she agreed, and with that she hung up the call.

Looking around at everything in the room made the rocker bored in the first few minutes. She already packed her stuff and even did her best to clean the room up to how it was when she found it. But she still had about two hours to go before Johnny would be closing up shop. Just as she was about to give up and flopped onto her stomach and just wait for Johnny her phone blared in her pocket.

"Hi Ash." She heard Meena's voice call cheerfully tone. And like that Ash's boredom seemed to slip away.

"Hey Meena." Ash smiled back glad that she wasn't alone anymore. Technically she still was just as alone as she was, but with the voice of her fellow singer reaching her, the room seemed a bit warmer and the air a bit lighter. But when she heard Meena giggling she paused wondering what made her laugh. "What is it?"

"No nothing, I just liked the way you said my name is all." The blush on Meena's cheeks could practically be heard across the line, and that sound Ash found cute, and for a while they just talked about nothing. "So what are you up to?" the elephant asked with a smile as she lay on her back in her room.

Ash had settled on the fluffy sheet laying on her side, "I'm just waiting till Johnny can come get me. He said I can stay with him for a while."

"Ohhh." Ash heard through the phone, but she couldn't tell if the hurt in her friend's voice was something she imagined or not. "Did you not like staying with Eddie?" Meena asked a bit more upbeat than before but now the smaller girl could definitely tell something was off.

But hearing the question made Ash huff. "Stay with Eddie? I never even saw him, I don't even know when he is home." Again she heard the innocent giggle bubble up from the other girl, and that's when she started to realize that sound was bringing a smile pulling up at her lips.

However that happiness the both of them shared quickly faltered and slipped away into a heavy silence. "How long are you staying with Johnny?" she asked breaking the silence with despair as she sat up to take a drink of her soda.

Ash however didn't respond right away, and in her pause it clicked instantly for her. "Meena do you have a crush on Johnny?" she asked knowingly.

The next sound Ash heard was Meena spitting out her soda before coughing on whatever drink slipped down the wrong pipe. "NO!" she yelled through her coughing fit that Ash directly caused.

"It's okay if you do Meena. He would be lucky to have you." She said trying to encourage Meena knowing that she was very shy and would need a little push to make that leap of faith. The elephant couldn't help but blush hard at the compliment, because it wasn't Johnny that she liked it was- "Oh hey Johnny texted me saying that he's outside. I'll put in a good word for you with him." she said before hanging up suddenly leaving her friend panicking.

* * *

"Hey thanks again for all this Johnny." Ash said honestly to her friend who once again took her bags without even asking and loaded them up in the truck while she got in. The only thing she was getting tired of with the small struggle she had to go through to climb up or down from the seat.

"Is' nothin' really." The driver dismissed her comment thinking of it as nothing more than helping out one of his friends, which was exactly what he was doing. After the both buckled Johnny put the car in drive and they were on their way. It was always so peaceful around this time of day, not to many cars out on the road but a lot of people going for a stroll in the breeze.

With Johnny resting on his open window he heard a car pulling up to them at the light, and he didn't think anything of it until he saw the bulky massive body of the vehicle. "Hey kid, you wouldn't happen to see any street racing going on have you?" a cool and neutral voice called past the gap in their cars.

"Why do you wanna lose?..." Ash jumped at the chance to challenge them, maybe it was her that liked racing instead of Johnny. But both teens stopped dead in whatever they were going to say next when the saw the tank like body of the new generation police cars with two officers in blue looking right at them.

"Ignore her officers, she's just hyper." Johnny tried to fix the situation as he tried pushing Ash back into her seat, which luckily she didn't fight against.

But the officers shared a look between the two of them, the gorilla and porcupine matched the description given to them by the sloth driving the sports car a few days ago. "Well Carrots, it's your call." Johnny heard the fox officer sitting in passenger seat say to the bunny driving. He had heard about these two new cops and his dad and uncles absolutely hated them. His family all said these cops meant bad news for the gang because they were busting crime scenes left and right.

"Johnny I-I'm sorry I-" Ash got wide eyed at hearing what the officer had said. She never meant to get her friend in trouble and certainly not arrested. But that same friend was the one who stopped her from going any further in her apology.

"Ash don't worry nothing is going to happen." He said whispering to her as he rolled up her window. He was hoping that he would just be able to talk them out of making it serious, it's not like they ever saw him speeding or else they would have pulled him over right away, well that's what he hoped.

Right up until the moment the bunny behind the wheel flipped the lights on above their car. "Alright kid you know what to do." The predator in the passenger seat said in a more serious tone of voice.

"Johnny?" his friend beside him was getting worried even more now.

The gorilla sighed and put his head on the wheel defeatedly, and just as he was about to flip his blinker to pull over the sound of a railroad crossing bell went off giving him an idea. He looked up seeing the red warning lights start flashing just a couple streets ahead. "I can make it." He said low with confidence filling his voice.

No later than that moment he slammed his foot down sending the car zooming down the road. He heard the roar of the police car as the fishtailed out of the red light that he just ran and gave chase with their lights and sirens blaring. "Johnny!" Ash could barely even scream his name as she was pressed against her seat by the force of his driving; she was terrified and excited all at the safe time.

"Hold one!" he shouted over the engine kicking into the next gear as he shifted the gears. They were racing towards the closing arms of the light rail. Just as the arm was almost closed all the way he shot underneath it as it clipped the back of the truck bed, but they made it though and from the sirens getting covered over by the train horn he knew those officers didn't.

"That was amazing!" Ash said as the both let out a breath they didn't know they were holding. "Johnny where did you learn to do that?!" her voice still shouting from the adrenaline pumping through her veins.

The speed racer smiled wearily at his buzzing friend next to him. "My dad was teachin' me a while ago with my uncle Berry." He said chuckling nervously at the memory of almost running over his dad as well as his driving during the heist incident. The black truck was filled with an occasional chuckle all the way back.

During the rest of the ride Johnny made sure to not stay on the same street for too long as he zig-zagged his way through the buildings on the way to his garage. After making sure the coast was clear he pulled into the shop and closed the large bay door quickly. "Well, this is the garage area, but we have our rooms upstairs." He said as he got her stuff from the bed. He grimaced a little when he saw the scratches the the safety arm left when he jumped the track, but hopefully he could buff them out.

As Ash climbed down from the truck she started to pick up on the smell of the car shop. It was a mixture of rubber, grease, oil, and a few other car related smells that were all lingering around the building. But she was hopeful that this small place with no surplus of kids was going to be better for her style.

"We don't really have a guest room or anything but the couch is comfortable." Johnny said scratching the back of his head embarrassed, that was probably something he should have mentioned before bringing her all the was across town. "And if you need somewhere to practice, that room in the corner is soundproof." The gorilla said with a gesture at the mentioned space, he hasn't personally been in there in a while but he remembered when his dad locked uncle Berry inside for a good laugh.

After taking her stuff upstairs and showing her around a bit he got her some clean blankets to use at night. When he can back she was looking over a newspaper left on the arm of the couch. "Johnny is this your dad?!" her quills pricked up slightly from her shock as she read over the article mentioning the gorilla gang being caught stealing a shipment of gold. "I thought you said your family was caught up with busyness stuff?" she asked looking up at him and showing him the page.

"Well it's uh-it's a family business." Johnny was getting nervous with what his friend might think. He hadn't told any of the others what his family really did, he had gone to Rosita for some help but even she didn't know the truth.

"You're family runs a gang?!" her shock was becoming prominent.

"No! Well kinda. The gang is just our family; my dad and his brothers." He admitted sheepishly at her reaction. "They started teaching me to be the getaway driver when the auditions started, but on the last heist I came to the theater and they got caught." The larger animal slouched his shoulders slightly, "I never wanted to be in the gang, I just wanted to make him proud for once."

Ash heard that last statement even though it didn't seem like it was meant for her because it was mumbled under his breath. She thought about it for a second and He never hurt anyone as far as she had seen, never got angry at any of them, and he was always just trying to help. He really wasn't a bad guy, and besides if and innocent girl like Meena liked him then he couldn't be that bad.

* * *

Not wanting to push the topic too far Ash didn't ask to many personal questions but that didn't mean she was still curious about this new light Johnny was painted in. Whenever something came up about his family's illegal business she would skirt around the topic a it before asking anyways,

The things she learned was that their gang didn't go out mugging people on the street mugging people, or at least they didn't anymore. From the sounds of it Johnny's dad used to be a lot more ruthless before having a family of his own, after that he and his uncles only robbed from big business. Along with that the soundproof room was really just used for calls, but before Johnny was born…that was another story.

Ash had finally managed to make some progress and was building the groundwork for a song she would be able to go with all the way. However most of the time the progress came from in the quiet room, not so she could focus, so that she could light enough scented candles to get rid of the horrible auto shop smell. Headaches caused by the fumes started to become a major hassle after the first couple of days. Johnny though was making a huge effort to make sure she was comfortable with having a shop fan blowing air about of the window.

Along with that he was listening to her practice and giving her his thoughts whenever she would ask how things were coming together. But there was one thing she hadn't been doing this whole time; looking too see about getting a new apartment. Sure she didn't mind how nice Johnny was or them hanging out with Meena a lot more before and after practice. The thing that she did mind however was the ever present and looming stench, and that was usually keeping her from checking out the ads she had saved from Rosita.

"Got another headache Ash?" he asked as he came up from closing for the night and saw her on the couch rubbing her temples.

"Yeah." She groaned from the throbbing behind her eyes. This one was pretty bad compared to how they normally were. The past few days she had been taking longer showers just to clear the smell from her head, Ash knew it wasn't Johnny's fault or anything but she wasn't used to any of it like he was; in fact he even said he liked the smell of the garage.

She heard him leave and a minute later came back and tapped her shoulder gentle. "Come on, you need to take some medicine." He pestered holding out a glass of water and a bottle of headache relief.

' _No wonder Meena likes you_.' The porcupine thought to herself as she took the water and bottle from her friend. Due to the difference in size between them Johnny had gone out one night to the nearest corner store and picked up a bottle meant for small animals rather than medium ones. If only all guys were as sweet and caring as him, then maybe people wouldn't need to pack up their lives and find somewhere new to live.

"Hey have you thought about staying with Meena?" Johnny asked thinking that maybe Ash being here for too much longer would be good for her. "I mean unless you want to try staying with Mike or Gunter." He added in with a smirk just wanting to see what she was going to say.

"And get eaten alive by the mob no thanks." She scoffed at the first name. "Hey…has your family ever had a run in with the bears?" now was one of those times when her curiosity was getting the best of her and she couldn't help but to ask the question. "You know what don't answer." She waved the question away not wanting to put him on the spot.

While he didn't actually know about any thing about the bears with them working different turfs, but he was glad that he didn't have to answer. "Well what about Gunter? I'm sure nobody hates him." The british accented gorilla asked.

In response Ash pulled out her phone and showed a video that Gunter sent to her. At first it was him waving at the camera trying to convince her that she should come to stay with him. "Is that a pole?!" he asked seeing the silver beam glinting in the background.

"Yeah, Polercise. Not my thing." She said disgusted at the thought of any of Gunter's exercise activities and let alone the outfits.

"What about Meena?"

Ash froze at his suggestion; and she didn't know why. "No I can't." she said shortly. "Meena's an innocent girl, I don't want them to think I'm rubbing off on her. You know, punk-rock girl and all." She said gesturing to her dark clothing.

The larger gorilla huffed, she was making this difficult without even knowing. "Are you kidding? Her grandpa said you were his favorite part besides Meena." He wasn't sure if it was true exactly but Rosita said that the rock song was an amazing hit.

"You're just trying to get rid of me." She smirked at him. After that he turned off the lights to help her headache and went off to listen to his playlist before heading off to bed himself. As the little rocker drifted off to bed she herself had a lot to think about; either stay with Johnny in the garage or hope that Meena's family wouldn't mind taking her in for a while.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Well that was a nice fluffy chapter, what did everyone think? Let me know in the reviews. Mhhh it looks like we have one more roommate to go, I wonder what will happen. I wonder where this blooming relationship between Ash and Johnny is going? ;)

So if you have any requests or prompts send me a message and we can get things going!

Until next time!~


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Notes:**

The third and final chapter for our adventure with Ash. Thank you to everyone reading along and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

I'm sorry for the long wait! TT~TT

* * *

 **Her Forever Home:**

Meena and Johnny were hanging out backstage listening to the song Ash had gotten so far. "Well it's a lot better than that first time." Johnny said scratching the back of his head at the bluntness she wanted from them.

"I think you sound good." Meena said in disagreement with the gorilla, "I mean your song, your song sounds good. You do too of course it's just…" she tapered off as she kept glancing at Johnny not wanting to look Ash in they eye because she was starting to blush.

However Ash saw Meena's eyes going back and forth to Johnny while she stammered. But the largest of the three felt the porcupines eyes on her and she panicked. "Oh I think I hear Mr. Moon calling me." She said quickly as she perked her ear up and left without any other explanation.

"You can't tell me she doesn't like you." Ash dryly told Johnny as she stared at him blankly.

Johnny turned around after watching Meena run off, "She said she didn't." he explained to their friend trying not to say too much.

"You can't just ask her! She'll never tell you if you do that." She scoffed at how stupid Johnny was for probably asking the shy singer about her feelings. That was definitely the wrong way to go with it because how shy Meena was.

* * *

The two of them stayed in the practice area talking and all the while Meena was just around the corner listening in trying to build up her confidence. But when Mrs Crawley came calling everyone to the front so Buster could give an announcement she had to leave so they didn't know she was right there all along.

"Ash, are you and Johnny heading back to his place?" Meena asked twirling her thumbs as she avoided looking at the smaller mammal directly. Everyone who was there was just doing their own practicing and singing after Buster's announcement.

"Yeah I was just waiting till he was ready to get going." The rocker responded with a nod. She had actually got in a decent amount of practice today and she was tired from it all. A few moments past and Meena hadn't said anything else but Ash could tell there was still something on her mind. "Why what's up?"

Meena told herself to be confident just like her grandpa told her, but this wasn't singing; it was so much harder than just singing. "I-well I thought that maybe…-if you wanted I mean…" the shy elephant stammered as he cheeks reddened. "I was wondering if you wanted to stay with me for a while." She squeaked out quickly.

The porcupine took a moment to think about what she had heard, it came out so fast she wasn't certain. But then it clicked, "Oh I see, you just don't want me staying with Johnny." Ash said with a wide smirk realizing that she was making Meena jealous.

"What? No! I mean yes but- No it's not that! I just-" Meena was stammering her defence and was unable to put the words together. What was making it worse; Ash's smirk was only growing, which made the elephant even more nervous. Meena's ears were almost completely covering her face now and there was nothing she could do to stop her cheeks from blushing.

"It's okay Meena I won't tell him." the rocker smirked. Before Meena could say anything else Ash cut in again. "Would your family be okay with me staying over?" While she wouldn't mind living with the larger singer for a while she wasn't sure if her style of music was going to be okay at their house.

Meena nodded in response. "I asked them about it yesterday and my mom said yes." Her voice was wavering slightly and she was unsure what Ash was going to say.

"Okay. If your mom said it's fine I don't mind." the porcupine said with a smile with perked Meena's ears up. "But would you be able to pick me up from Johnny's? I don't think he should be driving around right now." She said scratching the side of her head between some of her quills.

"Oh yeah! I'll let my mom know!" Meena said happily as she left the small practice rooms headed out to go home.

But she was stopped before she made it out of the doors. "Meena, Meena. Did you ask her?" Johnny's voice stopped her just before she was out the first set of doors.

The elephant singer turned around to see her friend coming up the walkway for the seats. "Yes." She nodded excitedly and eagerly. "She said yes." Johnny could tell she was excited about this.

"Okay you're coming by tonight right?" he asked to make sure that was still the plan. And he got another excited nod in return for his efforts. "Alright, I'll see you tonight." He said as he headed back to get a little bit more practice on the keys.

* * *

Johnny was closing up the garage after replacing the tires of the last customer when he heard another car pulling up. "I'm sorry, but I was just closing up." He said turning around only to find Meena waving from the passenger side of the car. "Oh hi Meena." He waved back, "Pull right on in sir." He said guiding her grandpa into the garage.

"And you must be Johnny, good to see you." The older elephant said shaking the gorilla's hand as he got out of the car. Johnny and him talked for a while after Johnny told Meena that Ash was upstairs packing.

Meena knocked on the wall as she came up to Ash in the living room area. "Hey you almost ready?" she smiled seeing her friend putting her clothes into her suitcase.

"Yeah I'm just packing everything up." The rocker said looking back over her shoulder. Doing a quick check she looked around seeing she had all her stuff together and that the room was pretty much back to the way it was. "I think that's everything." She said giving one last look before heading back downstairs with Meena; who just like Johnny took her stuff. ' _maybe they really are perfect for eachother_.' As though with a smile thinking about how similar Johnny and Meena were sometimes.

Downstairs Meena loaded up the small bags into the trunk of her grandpa's car, but Ash found herself facing a problem once more. Johnny's truck was indeed a bit bigger than she was, but this was ridiculous. "Do you need help getting up?" she heard Johnny chuckle behind her. "I have to help my niece up too." He smirked at the smaller singer.

"I can do it myself." She huffed irritated and embarrassed as she tried to climb up into the back seat. Her arms were struggling to pull her weight up when suddenly she felt large hands slide under her arms lifting her up. "Hey!?" the shock causing her quills to flare slightly.

"It's okay, I'm just giving you a boost." Johnny chuckled as he set her on the seat and handed her the guitar case.

It wasn't seen to either of them, but at the back of the car Meena saw Johnny pick her up smiling; even though Ash had her quills raised she even had a smile too. Watching them both like that made her heart feel heavy and she didn't know why. Slowly her ears wrapped around her cheek and her hands sunk into her pockets, but this time it wasn't because she was embarrassed or scared; they just felt too heavy to hold up anymore. ' _Maybe I'm not good enough for-_ '

Her thought's were interrupted by her grandpa honking the horn. "Meena! Are you going to wait all night? Come on, mama is making pasta!" he shouted back at her from his window. Shaking away those doubtful feelings she put on a fake smile and got into the passenger seat. In moments the gorilla was just a small figure waving in the mirror's reflection.

* * *

Pulling up to Meena's house was familiar to well she showed up at Rosita's house for the first day. It was a nice family house but a little smaller without the twenty some kids that were always running around. "It ain't no fancy rock star apartment but you can practice all you like." Grandpa said as he held open the door for Ash.

The first thing Ash realized when she walked in was how big of a mistake this might have been, everything was huge compared to her. The tv looked massive, the remote was bigger than her arms, and even the footrest was almost as tall as her. "Sorry if it's a little cramped, grandpa likes having his recliner." Meena said as she set Ash's bags down in the corner by the coat rack.

Ash looked over at the monstrous piece of furniture, and even then it seems like she could walk around without bumping into things. "No it's more than enough room." She said distracted as she was still taking in her new surroundings. But then a warm scent filled the room, "That smells amazing, what is that?" she asked not noticing before how hungry she was.

"That's dinner sweetie." A loving voice said catching her attention. "Hi sweety you must be Ash, I'm Meena's grandmother." She said holding out her hand.

"Thank you guys for letting me stay here for a while." The smaller mammal smiled up at the elderly female.

"You girls go get ready for dinner now." The grandma said warmly looking between the two performers before heading off back to finish up the garlic bread for the pasta.

Meena led Ash down the hall giving her a quick tour of the house as they went to the bathroom. When they got there was the first time Meena saw the problem that Ash had been seeing this whole time; and it came in the form of seeing Ash looking up at the counter top. "I-I can help you…if you want." She said shyly not knowing if her friend even wanted her help.

And sure enough Ash was a little reluctant to agreeing, but with a blush she asked if Meena could lift her up. Kneeling on top of the counter she made sure to scrub her hands thoroughly after having stayed at Johnny's garage for so long. The smooth soap felt so much better compared to the abrasive grease removal soap that she had been using there.

Once they were done drying off their hands she held her arms out again for Meena to pick her up and set her back on the floor. A blush returning to both of them, Ash for having to be picked up and Meena for holding Ash in her hands like a kid. The rocker's feet were almost on the floor when suddenly, "Hey Meena!" her grandpa shouted as he burst into the doorway.

Him suddenly showing up loudly scared both girls into a scream. Meena pulled Ash back up into her arms and Ash held on out of fear. The sound of the grandpas laughing made them both huff at him irritatedly before the porcupine noticed something, "Where'd you get those?" she asked gesturing to the red glasses he was holding; they looked a lot like-

"I got them from your show." Grandpa chuckled as he pull them off his trunk seeing as they were too small for his head and handed them down to Ash.

For a moment she looked at the red hear glances before giving a small laugh, "You can keep them, they weren't mine anyways." Her statement made the older elephant grin.

"You should take Meena out to steal something with you next time." He said before heading out back to the kitchen not noticing the few quills that were stuck in his coat. Seeing the small spikes made the girls look back at Meena who sure enough had several more quills stuck in her hoody.

Ash looked up nervously to her friend. "I'm sorry, you're not hurt are you?" she asked feeling guilty about it.

"No don't worry I'm okay." She tried to show the small mammal she was okay. The little quills barely managed to poke the clothes she was wearing. "See no harm done." Ash was relieved to hear Meena say that because getting pricked by a quill was not painless; but she guessed it was just Meena's thicker skin that made sure it didn't hurt.

The rocker stepped out following the grandpa back to the kitchen while her host stayed back just a little longer. She was looking from the mirror to the couple of quills she was holding onto, and then the image of Ash crossed her mind bringing a blush to her face.

* * *

Just like grandpa had said; dinner was delicious. Even though Rosita cooked every night while Ash was there, she was never going to admit that the past from tonight was better than anything she had there at the pig's household, and boy was she stuffed right now. "Thank you, that was really good." She sighed happily as they all finished up their food.

"Anytime sweetie pie, Grandma and I are more than happy cooking in the kitchen, you just let us know if you want more." Meena's mom said cheerfully. But the portion size she had was already more than enough for the medium sized mammal; even if it was only a small portion for the larger breed.

Ash slid down off the stack of phone books they had gotten for her and grabbed her plate before then sliding down off the chair. She might be small compared to everything around her but that wasn't going to stop her from at least cleaning up her mess a little bit. She always had to clean up the mess that Lance left and she sure wasn't going to leave their house a mess if she could help it.

"Oh, sweetie don't worry about that, we'll take care of the dishes." The grandma said as she saw what Ash was doing. "You can just leave it there on the counter." Knowing she was never going to be able to reach the sink let alone wash her plate, Ash settled for just sliding the dish and her glass onto the counter; even if she had to use her tippy toes to do so.

When Meena finished shortly after her friend she took her stuff over to the sink and gave them all a quick rinse before putting them in the dishwasher for later. "Meena dear, why don't you get the rolling bed ready for Ash?" her mom asked as she gathered up her parents plates and cleaned them off.

As Meena got out the rolling bed Ash went off to get ready for bed herself; and that meant a nice shower to finally get rid of the garage smell once and for all. Luckily enough for her the nobs for the water were low enough for her to reach, but a knock on the door startled her into slipping. "Are you okay!?" Meena worried hearing the stumbling and opened the door to check on her.

There was a few quills going through the curtain and the sounds of Ash struggling to get up off the floor of the tub. "I'm okay!" she shouted over the sound of the water; and her struggles. When she regained her balance she saw the quills poking out of the curtain and pulled them out setting them on the outside as to not get stuck in the drain. "I'm sorry about the curtain." She was so embarrassed; her first night here and she was already ruining things.

"No it's okay it's just a curtain." Meena said hoping that her friend didn't feel too bad, besides she was usually the only one who used this bathroom anyways. "I just came to bring you a towel." She said hiding behind said towel; her friend was showering just on the other side of that thin lining, and that was making her nervous.

"Oh thanks. You can just leave it there for me." Ash responded with a shaky voice. ' _Why am I feeling so nervous?_ ' she thought to herself. Just as the elephant was about to leave she remembered something. "Wait Meena…can you give me the soap?...I can't reach it." She said with red cheeks; maybe that's why she was feeling so nervous.

However saying that only made Meena's eyes widen. It clicked in her head that the soap was in the shower…with Ash…without clothes. A red blush spread across her face but she said yes none the less; even if it was very shaky and hesitant. But little by little she reached into the shower and handed down the soap for Ash. The moment that was done she was out of the bathroom in the next moment and back in her room.

The elephant sat there in her room waiting for the redness in her cheeks to slowly fade away. Taking a peek out into the hallway she went back to her bed and pulled out the quills that had gotten stuck in her jacket from Ash's little fright earlier. Thinking back to how her friend always dressed it seemed like she always had quills in her shirt, so with that in mind Meena threaded one quill through each side of her jacket; all the while her blush going away and her lips parting in a smile.

* * *

Now Meena was in the shower hoping that the hot water would help sooth her problems away. It wasn't that she was troubled and had any major problems, only minor things really. Such as her friend she had a huge crush on wass sleeping in her room for the next few days or so. Yeah that was a big problem. And right now she wasn't she if the warmth in her cheeks was from the water spraying over her or from the thoughts spinning around in her head.

Without really thinking her lips began to move and her voice began to spill out all around her, and the sound of her beautiful singing echoed in the small room; and unknown to her it slipped under the door and out into the hallway. As Ash was walking past the bathroom heard an angel's voice slipping through the cracks. She stopped in her tracks listening to the gentle song Meena was singing, the little porcupine had heard Meena singing at the theater plenty of times; but right now her voice was stunning.

"Her voice is beautiful isn't it?" she heard a whisper from down the hall causing her to snap her attention behind her. Down the hallways Meena's mom was smiling with a basket of clothes in her arms. "It's okay, I won't tell her you were listening. We all like to hear our baby girl sing." The mother smiled warmly before heading into the wash room to put the clothes in to wash.

For a little while longer Ash sat there next to the door listening to her angel singing without another thought in her mind. That was until the singing slowly faded away and the shower cut off, not wanting to get caught Ash hurried to Meena's room and with a jump crawled onto her roll away bed. She didn't notice the blush on her face but the questioned pulled at her; why was she afraid to get caught?

When Meena came back into her room ready for bed Ash was practicing her cords on her guitar. It wasn't plugged into a speaker so the sound was quiet, but the tones played on the metal wires still sounded amazing to the elephant. And for a little while she listened to the strumming of those wires as she sat in her bed.

Time past and soon enough the little rocker had felt like she practiced enough for tonight and decided to join her friend in getting ready for bed and crawled under her own sheets after setting her instrument in its case and against the side of her bed. "Goodnight Meena." She whispered quietly into the night.

The young elephant couldn't stop her ear from perking up visibly or stop her cheeks from heating up, Meena had never expected to hear the rockstar use her voice so gently. And yet here she was experiencing it first person. "Goodnight Ash." She squeaked shyly in response as a smile spread across her lips and her eyes fluttered shut. And what she never saw was the smile that parted the porcupines lips.

* * *

"I'm telling you, she's gonna get Meena out of her shell for good now." Meena's grandpa said in as he crawled into bed with his wife. "I can feel it this time." He chuckled as he told her of the good he was hoping for.

"She's already in a public speaking class Honey, she's coming out on her own already." She responded as she pulled the covers back over herself after they were stolen from her.

The grandma was right; after the big concert Meena made an effort to be more open and talkative. But that was a big goal she set, one even bigger than herself. So to help reach that goal she enrolled in a public speaking class to help get over her nerves. "I know, but she's still having trouble you know that. Maybe they need to go steal something." The idea sounded great in his own head.

However to the older elephant the point wasn't clear. "Steal something? Now why would they go do that?" she questioned him loudy. "You know Meena isn't going to steal from anyone." Her voice slightly irritated at the ludicrous idea.

"I'm just saying." He said defensively as he turned out the light and snuggled close to his wife.

* * *

It was morning now and Ash was ripped out of her peaceful dream by the intrusive sun pouring in from the blinds. She groaned as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes, this is why she had blackout curtains because she just could no stand this much light this early. However as the small mammal rolled over her eyes caught a glimpse of something glowing in the golden light.

Basking in the morning sun Meena was still fast asleep on her bed, only now with a golden halo that traced the curves of her peaceful figure. Ash couldn't bring herself to look away, she had never thought Meena was ugly or even average looking, but until now she never realized just how beautiful the young elephant was.

Unfortunately for her though, nothing gold can last forever. The sound of footsteps suddenly brought the rock star out of her trance and into a panic. Quickly she spun her blanket over her and buried her head in her pillow just in time for the door to open and those footsteps to enter the room. "Meena, Meena time to get up." She could hear the mom's voice calling the still sleeping singer.

Ash could hear her friend shifting around and raised out of bed with a yawn that she couldn't help but adore. "Morning mama." She said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes awake.

"Why don't you wake your friend up so you girls can eat?" the older mammal asked before heading back out into the kitchen.

Meena stretched a bit longer before actually getting up and out of bed. She looked over her friend lying there on the other side of the room admiring her for just a few moments, it was funny how obvious Ash hated the morning with the way she had the blanket bunched over her head. She was just about to wake Ash up but then she realized, she had never actually woken up one of her friends before. Catching herself in thought she was trying to think what the best way to do this.

Should she just call out her name she thought, "Ash. Ash." She whispered getting no results. Going over to the bed she sat down on the empty section of the bed. But the thing that she didn't think of was how much her weight was going to affect the mattress.

Ash felt Meena lower herself onto her bed after calling her name but she just couldn't find herself to get up, and she didn't know what she was faking being asleep. That was until her friend was fully on the bed and Ash found herself rolled onto the younger girl's lap laying on her back; now she had absolutely no idea what to do.

Meena was frozen in her anxiety after accidently rolling the smaller girl into her lap, she was sure that was not the correct way to wake someone up. But the thought crossed her mind how heavy of a sleeper Ash must have been to not wake up after that, and an idea popped into her head. Whenever she didn't wake up her family always tickled her…so maybe…maybe this was the way to go?

Ash burst into a fit of laughter when her sides were assaulted by her friend. "MEENA STOP I'M AWAKE!" she yelled trying to free herself of her torture. She was extremely ticklish but never had to deal with it because no one ever thought someone like her would be ticklish. She caught her breath after Meena had stopped and that's when both of them realized Ash was still laying in her lap.

"Sorry." Meena squeaked shyly as her friend crawled off and back onto the bed. Both of them with light blushing across their cheeks.

* * *

At breakfast everyone was sitting down at the table listening to the news playing on the tv going through the usual traffic and weather stuff. It felt weird to Ash being up this early, or at least being this active anyways. Unfortunately for her it also started to show as she dropped a spoonful of cereal onto her shirt rather than making it to her mouth. As she struggled to reach for the paper towel in the middle of the table she could feel the milk soaking through her shirt.

Sitting across the table from her friend Meena pushed the towel stand closer to the struggling mammal. Luckily for both of them it was just close enough for Ash to reach and clean up the small mess she made of herself. With no more mishaps during breakfast the smaller mammal went for a shower and this time found that Meena had put the soaps down on floor of the tube for she could reach them.

However by the time she got out of the bathroom all dried up and ready she came to find that her friend was gone. "Hey gramps, where'd Meena go?" she said looking round to make sure she hadn't somehow missed her friend.

"She went off to her speech class." He responded as he turned around in his recliner to talk to her.

"Speech class? Why does she have speech class?" Ash asked as she did her best to crawl up onto the couch being careful not to poke her quills into the fabric.

The old elephant gave almost a irritated huff. "She needs to be more confident! She needs to speak up for herself more!" he exclaimed as he shook his can in his grip for emphasis. He had told that same thing to his wife, their daughter, and even Meena.

And now that she was in the class he thought it was all going to go away at once; but so far it did not. From what it sounded like Meena was barely making it through the speech portion of the class while she did fine during the studying and reading portion, but she wasn't going there to learn how to read; she was going there to learn how to be confident. However with her rock star friend staying with them he thought things were going to start looking up; maybe he would ask the small girl to _help_ with this.

* * *

"Hey Meena how was your speech class?" Ash questioned when her friend showed up to practice.

"Speech class? Why do you have speech class sweetie?" Rosita asked as everyone was hanging around the practice rooms together.

Her ears started to come up around her face to hide from her friends, she did her best to fight it but being put on the spot was always a challenge for her; especially in front of a group. "I-my grandpa wanted me in them. He said I need to be more confident…" the young singer carried off feeling embarrassed about this problem.

Ash didn't know why but hearing how defeated Meena was hurt her in a way and it made her quills stand on end. The old timer was funny and all but even as Meena's grandpa she couldn't stand the thought of him being pushy like that. "Well I know you can do great." Ash said proudly as she puffed out her chest in believe of her.

"Thanks I hope so." The larger girl sighed. "We just got our last assignment for the class. We have to talk about our idol." The whole time she was walking here from her class she was deep in thought trying to plan out who she would pick or what she would even say; and even now she hadn't thought of anything yet.

* * *

Meena and Johnny were sitting out in the stands watching Ash perform her piece and going over the changes with Buster. "So did you two have fun last night?" the gorilla smirked at his friend in the light blue hoodie.

At first she was going to question him, but the look on his face said everything his lips didn't. "No! Why would you think that!?" she hissed with glowing red cheeks as this morning played back in her head.

"Well nothing really, except the quills stuck in your jacket." Johnny pointed at her side causing her to look down.

And sure enough there was two porcupine needles stuck in the same spots she had put them in last night. "I-I put them there." The shy mammal admitted, which came as a surprise to him; but then she gave a defeated sigh. "Johnny I don't think I can do it. She would never like me." Her voice was heavy and low as her thoughts weighed her down.

"Oi, come on don't think like that." His british accent coming out strong as he tried to cheer her up. "Have you even tried telling her?" rather than say anything thought Meena sighed and shook her head. "Well why don't you then? It's the best way to let her know right?" he tried convincing her.

"I-I guess you might be right." Meena stammered trying to think about how she would go about confessing. But little did either of them know, Ash was watching them as she left the stage. For Some reason she couldn't help but feel as if her feet were heavy and her eyes were misty; and she quickly cast that all aside.

* * *

Johnny wasn't sure when or why this had started revolving around him; but it did. "Are you sure you don't like Meena?" Ash confronted him backstage almost angrily. When she saw them talking out in the stands she decided that she wanted to know once and for all.

"What? No, no I don't like Meena." The larger mammal said defensively as he put his hands up. "Why do you think I like her?" he then turned the question to her hoping it would give him space to breath.

"Because you are always talking with her and both of you always laugh and smile together. And then whenever I'm around you both get quite." Her voice carried a dangerous vibe with it along with a hint of something more.

However, the rebel knew from experience what that hint was. "Ash do you like Meena?" he asked with a raised brow which stopped her in her tracks.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She huffed, but he didn't say anything in response; he just looked at her until she spoke up again. "I don't know- maybe." This was the first time Ash had been asked about her feelings in a long while; and it was the first time she had even asked herself if she had feelings for her friend. "I'm just afraid she would never like someone like me."

"Why do you think that? You're a great friend to her right? Just talk to her about it." The gorilla told her as he tried his best to play cupid. He had never done this before but was pretty sure he wasn't supposed to tell them how the other felt; but hopefully with this he wouldn't have to.

* * *

Ash was sitting on the couch with Meena grandpa and the two of them were arguing about which horror movie was better; the elephant was saying exorcism, while Ash on the other hand…well she had different tastes in movies.

"How is that princess movie a horror movie?" grandpa was just baffled by the crazy rocker sitting next to him. "It's a princess movie for crying out loud." At this point he was beyond confused.

"Its horrifying because that hideous dress she wears! And her singing gives me nightmares!" The young girl complained standing firm in her views.

Just as the grandparent was about to respond the front door opened up and Meena shyly stepped in. "Meena! How did the speech go?!" his voice still energetic from 'talking' with Ash.

Meena froze up for a second being caught off guard by his loudness. "I- I got an A." she said with a wide grin showing the grade report. There were some red markings and comments on different areas of the rubric, but circled at the top was that glorious letter.

"That's great Meena!" Ash was more than happy for her friend. Out of her control her eyes just seemed to sparkle with delight at her friend's achievement.

Seeing the glimmering crystal eyes of the porcupine made the younger mammal flush with embarrassment and nerves. "Th-thanks." She stammered lightly at the compliment and enthusiasm.

"What's all the commotion about dad?" Meena's mom ask as her and the grandma came into the room together.

"Meena passed her class!" exclaimed the very proud grandfather as he showed off the paper he took from the singer.

"Well I think that calls for a celebration, why don't we all sit down for a movie night?" grandma happily suggested. And after a long six minutes the group had finally decided on a movie and were getting seated as Meena brought in a bowl of popcorn; a heft elephant sized bowl of popcorn.

Every Time the bowl was passed around Meena would tip it sideway just enough for Ash to reach an arm over the side and get a pawful for herself to much on. And everything, Meena couldn't help me smile at her small friend as she stuck her tongue out to reach the buttery treat.

One by one the oldest mammal tired out during the second movie and headed off to bed, and before the halfway point it was just Meena and Ash sitting and watching the comedy together. However sure enough that same pattern continued, and just like that Ash drifted off to wonderland curling up against her favorite pillow; Meena's thigh.

For a while the now wide awake singer could only stare shocked at the small figure now drooling on her leg; but she didn't look on in disgust but he looked on in flustered as her idle and crush rested against her. Almost against her will she felt her large grey paw reaching out and brush against the quills.

"Meena, what are you doing?" Ash's bright eyes shot open as she felt her quills hitting each other annoyingly even.

"I- I sorry I didn't-" she pulled away quickly at being caught in the act. It was one thing to have a guilty pleasure and tell someone about it; but to be caught by someone while enjoying your guilty pleasure was by far the worse thing Meena could imagine.

Trying to get away as fast as she could the young elephant starting getting up to run to her room flustered when a firm pair of paws on her leg stopped her. "Meena don't leave. Look it's okay, really." Ash said calming her down and her crystal blue eyes putting her in a trance. And somehow Meena listened and she stopped fighting to get up as she relaxed back down. Observing her friend for a moment Ash laid her head back down on the comfy spot she found on Meena's thigh.

The soulful singer was just perplexed by this, but after a few moments she felt Ash reach a paw over and grab one of her own and pull it to the top of her head and guide it along the spines. "Ash what-"

"If you go this way it feels really nice, but going across them pulls them sideways." She told her before letting go of the larger grey paw. And much to both of their enjoyment, Meena kept brushing her paw down the quills just the way Ash wanted; and the once shy singer couldn't help but smile when Ash nuzzled against her leg.

"Ash would you stay here with us? My family really likes you and they would love to have you around. And…I really like you being here too." The grey mammal's voice was very soft and shy. Even with all the speech classes she had been taking right now her voice and confidence was about to fail her.

The rocker sat up looking at her friend, "okay." She nodded warmly as she hugged Meena as best as she could. "and I like you too." She purred in a whisper in her ear causing the elephant to blush wildly.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

Well everyone I hope that didn't disappoint too much! I liked writing this but then when I had forgot about updating I kinda lost myself with it but I hope you enjoy it as much as the other chapters!

So I have 2 stories on the table right now that i'm going to have to work on off and on. 'Zootopia Concert' and 'A changed Life' there is already a little of each written so I will try to keep those going at the same time.

Thank you for reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoy more stories and adventures to come!~


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